Control means for flush valves



Dec. Z2, 1959 A. A. SCHOENROCK, JR

CONTROL MEANS FOR FLUSH VALVES Filed May 17, 1956 llll/ll.

United States Patent() CONTROL MEANS FOR FLUSH' VALVES Arthur A.Schoenroclr, lr., Fairbury, Nebr.

Application May 17, 1956, Serial No. 585,486

1 Claim. (Cl. 251-21) The present invention relates to new andusefulrimprovements in ilush valves to delay the successive time periodof each flushing cycle. y L

An important object of the invention is to provide dash-pot controlmeans for the valve plunger to delay the return action of said controlmeans before the valve can again be operated and thus prevent overflowof the drain of urinals, toilets or installations where ilush valves areused.

Another object is to provide a control attachment for ush valves adaptedfor connecting to the operating lever or handle of the valve in aprotected position inside the valve housing.

A further object is to provide a device of this character of simple andpractical construction, which isl eicient and reliable in operation,relatively inexpensive to manufacture and otherwise well adapted for thepurpose for which the same is intended.

These together with other objects and advantagesI which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure l is a side elevational view with parts broken away and shown insection;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on a line 2 2 of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on a line 3-3 of Figure 2,and

Figures 4, 5 and 6 are fragmentary views in side elevation partly invertical section illustrating, respectively, different positions of thevalve stem sections relative to the valve plunger.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, wherein for the purpose ofillustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of my invention,the numeral 5 designates a flush valve of a conventional type commonlyused for urinals and toilets and which includes a valve housing 6 havingan inlet 7 at its upper portion and an outlet 8 at its lower portion. Aswivelly movable operating handle or lever `9 is mounted in a gland nut10 at the front of the housing and the inner end of the handle or lever,has an enlarged rocker 9' thereon which is operatively engaged with areciprocable plunger rod 11 positioned in operating engagement with thevalve stem 12 for advance to open the valve by a tilting movement of thevalve stem 12 in a manner common to flush valves of this type, theplunger rod 11 being spring retracted by a spring 11 and returning thehandle or lever 9 to normal starting position all as disclosed in U.S.Patent No. 1,114,398, issued to W. E. Sloan and dated October 20, 1914,to which attention is directed.

A dash-pot housing 13 is provided with an externally threaded boss 14for threading in an opening 15 at the rear of the valve housing 6 andthe boss is formed with 2,918,248 Patented Dec. 22, 1959 2 a bore 16 inwhich a plunger rod 17 is slidable. A pa'clting assembly 18 seals theplunger rod in the bore.

One end of the plunger rod 17 extends into the dash*- pot housing 13 andto which a plunger 19 is attached and which comprises a Neoprene orother suitable plunger cup 20 secured between a pair of metal washers 21and 22 by inner and outer nuts 23 and 24 threaded on rod 17. The end ofthe rod is formed with a passage 25 to bleed liquid 26 in the housing 13from one side of the plunger to an opposite side thereof in a dashpotaction upon a reciprocating movement of the plungert 'f The other end 27of plunger rod 17 extends into th valve housing 6 and is formed with alateral hook-like eitension 28 engaged in a transverse opening 29 inJthe recliproeable plunger rod 11.

The valve stein 12 is, as shown in the aforesaid patent, of a two-parttelescopic type with upper and lov'v'er 'tele/- scopic stern sections12', 12" respectively. When the valve 5 is closed and the plunger rod 11retracted, the lower stem section 12" hangs suspended in advance of theplunger rod 11 from an enlargement 12" on the upper stem section 12, asshown in Figure 4, so that when the plunger rod 11 is advanced, thevalve stem 12 is tilted, toward the right in the drawing, out of normalperpendicular position with respect to the plunger rod 11, as shown inthe aforesaid patent, to open the valve 5, which, when completely openedlifts said valve stem 12 above the plunger rod 11 as shown in Figure 5.This arrangement permits the valve 5 to close and the valve stern 12 toreturn to normal perpendicular position if the plunger rod 11 is heldadvanced by the handle of lever 9, and also prevents the valve 5 frombeing again opened until the plunger rod 11 is retracted. This isbecause with the plunger rod 11 held advanced, the lower stem section12" may slidably seat on the plunger rod 11 while the upper stem section12 telescopes downwardly in the lower stem section 12", as shown inFigure 6, while the valve 5 closes, and the stern sections 12', 12remain in this position until the plunger rod 11 is fully retracted,whereupon, the lower stem section 12" slides downwardly on the upperstem section 12 off of and in front of the plunger rod 11 to therebyposition the valve stem 12 for again being tilted by advance of theplunger rod 11.

According to my invention, when the handle or lever 9 is operated, theplunger 19 is advanced and the cup 20 llexes at its outer edgerearwardly away from the housing 13 to permit the liquid 26, in advanceof the plunger 19, to by-pass said plunger 19 around the cup,20 so thatthe plunger 19 may be quickly advanced and the bleed passage 25 isineffective to retard such advance. However, when the plunger rod 11retracts, and the plunger 19 is thereby retracted, the outer edge of thecup 20 ilexes against the housing 13 into sealing engagement therewithto force liquid behind the plunger 19 to by-pass said plunger 19forwardly through the passage 25 whereby retraction of the plunger 19and the plunger rod 11 s retarded by slow relief through the smallpassage 25 of back pressure behing the plunger 19. Thus, return of theplunger rod 11 to normal position is retarded and delayed so thatsuccessive repeat operations of the handle or lever 9 to open the valve5 must be delayed accordingly.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the ydevice willbe readily understood and further eX- planation is believed to beunnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction shown and described, andaccordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resortedto, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

l What is claimed as new is as follows:

In a ush valve having a casing provided with a valve member having atwo-part telescopic stem therein operative for opening and closingthereof, a swivelly movable handle on the casing, a reciprocable memberin the casing operative from a normal position by said handle tolaterally engage said stem and open said valve member and meansincluding said two-part telescopic stem preventing said valve memberfrom being held open or immediately opened again until said reciprocablemember has returned to normal position, and spring means for returningsaid reciprocable member to its normal position, dash-pot means forretarding return of said reciprocable member comprising a liquidcontaining housing on said casing, a plunger in said housing movableforwardly and rearwardly of said stem in opposition to pressure of theliquid in the housing, a cup on said plunger having a free edge flexibleinto frictional sealing engagement with said housing in response torearward movement of the plunger and pressure of the liquid against saidedge whereby to retard rearward movement of the plunger, a plunger rodfor retarding return of said reciprocable member in correspondence withthe retarded rearward movement of the plunger and moving said plungerforwardly in response to movement of said reciprocable member fromnormal position and extending out of said housing into said casing withone end connected to said reciprocable member and its other end xed toand extending through said plunger, and a bleed port in the xed end ofthe plunger rod opening forwardly and rearwardly of said plunger torelieve back pressure of liquid in front of said plunger opposingforward movement of the plunger.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS374,637 Smith Dec. 13, 1887 832,834 Bell Oct. 9, 1906 1,096,220 BrooksMay 12, 1914 20 1,114,398 Sloan Oct. 20, 1914 1,849,129 Wright Mar. l5,1932 2,012,255 Binnall Aug. 20, 1935

